Crimson Eyes
by Cherry chain
Summary: Jade's fonic sight has been bothering him, and Saphir is worried. Jade and Dist as kids


AN: Hehe, two fanfics from me in such a short time? The world is going crazy eh?

I had recently finished Abyss and I always get these creative bursts right after finishing a game. Those creative bursts are usually turned into drawn art, but this time it seems I'm leaning more toward written arts. Abyss just leaves some nice openings for one-shots though don't they?

This idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it out. Even though Jade probably annoyed Dist to no end throughout the game, I felt that the two still liked each other a lot. Jade just has a weird way of showing his affection.

No, this is not Yaoi. You'll never, EVER, see Yaoi from me, I can assure you.

I do not own Tales or any of the tales characters. If I did, Anise would have died. And Frings would have lived. And Frings would have been the one who killed Anise. Then he would have joined the party :D

* * *

"Jade, tell me! You applied the Arte to your eyes didn't you?" Saphir asked Jade desperately, a hint of pleading in his voice. They never developed the theory to the end! How could Jade have used it before they knew for sure that it was safe?

"I had to try it Saphir. And I'm alive here aren't I?" Jade replied irritably, his back turned to his friend. Saphir had tracked Jade down in the richer areas of Keterburg and had finally cornered the young fonist behind a rather large house- Peony's house if either of them stopped to think about it more closely.

Jade had been acting oddly for the past few weeks. For one thing, he seemed to be avoiding eye contact with everyone, even when talking to people. And he was always rubbing his eyes, as if something was irritating them. He's been doing it so much that the skin around there was turning a pink colour. Jade says he has a bit of a cold, and it's been making his eyes water. But Saphir knew better.

"But Jade, we don't know the full effects it might have on your body! Come on, I had looked into the reversal progress when we were developing the Arte. Let's get rid of the Arte on you first before we go any further-" Saphir desperately tried to explain, knowing full well how hard it was to make up Jade's mind.

"We're not going to learn of it's effects just by hypothesizing Saphir." Jade cut the young boy off. He turned around to face his friend. For the first time in quite a while, Jade stared right into Saphir's eyes, allowing the boy to examine what had happened.

Saphir gasped and stared at Jade.

"They're-"

"Yes, they're turning red. It's not that noticeable yet, but it's gotten worse over the past little while. I'm looking into it-- and stop gaping Saphir, you're starting to drool."

Saphir quickly shut his mouth, embarrassed.

"Jade, it- it's not damaging your vision is it?" He whispered fearfully. He truly was concerned about his dear friend.

"I've tested myself. No, I'm not going blind if that's what you're afraid of. It doesn't seem to have any effect on my vision at all actually. Anyways, I tested the theory the other day, it has definitely increased the strength of my fonic artes." Jade smiled, seemingly unconcerned. The Arte they had developed was after all, an Arte when applied to a major fon slot in the body allowed greater amounts of fonons to be gathered in a shorter amount of time. This results in more powerful Artes. When applied the the largest external fon slots on the body, the eyes, the potential to gather fonons increases threefold.

Saphir grew frustrated.

"Jade, stop avoiding it! You're losing control of the Arte aren't you? It's been bothering your eyes, we can all see it clearly!" Saphir finally let out the fear for his friend over the past while.

One of Jade's strongest traits was honesty, it was one thing the Balfour pair had managed to teach him effectively. And it prevented him now from telling an outright lie to his best friend. So he stayed silent, and it confirmed Saphir's fear.

"Please Jade, let's go work on reversal process. We don't know what might happen to you-"

"Well actually, we know that if I lose control of the Arte completely, it will kill me-"

"Jade! How can you be so calm about it?"

Jade just shrugged.

"I don't want to lose it. You should have seen that Arte I tried when I activated the Fonic Sight. It was amazing. I'll figure out some way to control it, don't you worry Saphir."

Jade then walked right past the young boy, heading back to his home. The sun was just setting, casting a bloody orange glow on the white snowy scenery of Keterburg.

Many adults have commented before on how amazing it was to hear these two speak to each other. Their vocabulary alone was years beyond their age. These two were different from the other kids, and it was this difference that made these two such close friends.

Saphir looked down at his own feet. He truly feared for Jade, he cared a lot about the young fonist. Both of them were geniuses in the town, none of the other kids ever understood them. Listening to themselves, Saphir often realized how different he and Jade was from everyone else. Their interests, their knowledge, the way they talk...everything.

He'd be all alone without Jade.

As Saphir made his own way back home, he realized what he had to do. No matter how confident and unconcerned Jade seemed, Saphir feared for his health. So if Jade wasn't going to put in the full effort to control the Arte, then Saphir will.

Mr. and Mrs. Neis barely saw much of their son that following week. The young boy always locked himself up in his room whenever he had the chance. He was always home right after school, and went up to his room the moment he bolted down dinner. This was odd, because he would normally be spending all his time at the Library or at the edge of town with the Balfour kid. Jade came here looking for Saphir a few times, but gave up after several consecutive failed tries.

Saphir refused to let anything interrupt whatever he was doing in there.

Jade found himself alone again as he sat down on the bench in the North Plaza, a book with him as always. It was Loreleiday (Saturday) and there wasn't any school to help him pass the time. He has barely seen Saphir all week, ever since that talk they had. Nephry and Peony didn't seem to know what was up with him either. When Jade asked the professor, she suggested that he talked to Saphir. It was just like something the Professor would say. But Saphir never gave him a chance.

"Huh, I wonder what's up with him." He wondered out loud. He hadn't even bothered to try to find Saphir again today. Probably still stuck in his room, doing whatever he was doing. Jade didn't mind too much -he himself would often do similar things whenever working on a new theory or the like- but he had to admit, it was lonely without Saphir. Peony was fun to talk to as well, if only he didn't direct all of his attention at Nephry. So Jade sat by himself today.

Jade stared at the book in his hands for a moment, reading the title. _On Fonology._ It was a beginner's introduction to Fonons and the like. Jade had memorized almost everything in this book at like what? The age of four? But he didn't feel it was right to start any new books without Saphir being there with him, and the two going through it together, as they've always done.

So he opened it, and glanced at the Table of Contents. Every topic covered here, he knew about by heart, down to the very last detail. _The Basics of Fonons...The Seventh Fonon...Memory particles and the Score...Fonic Artes..._

"Jade?" The voice startled Jade and he dropped the book. Saphir was standing in front of him, and he hastily bent down to pick up _On Fonology_ and handed it back to Jade.

"Ah, thanks Saphir. Are you finally done with whatever you were doing?" Jade asked casually. Saphir nodded, then suddenly looked proud of himself.

"It took a lot of work, but here!" Saphir took something out of his pockets. A pair of glasses. Jade took them and examined them for a moment, recognizing immediately a small complex, almost invisible system on it to allowed Jade to adjust it to his own size. He would never be able to outgrow this pair of glasses.

"Um, Saphir? I told you I'm not losing my eyesight, I don't need glasses." Jade knew there was more to this, but he said it anyways. Jade turned to look at Saphir, who examined him for a moment. Saphir couldn't help but note that Jade's eyes were more red than before, only a small band of brown left around his black pupil.

"Well, I've applied an Arte to it and specially designed a Fontech Capacity Core on those. It should control your fonic sight, but it won't interfere with the Arte at all." Saphir announced proudly, but then he suddenly considered something and sighed. "Well, in theory anyways."

"Already?" Jade looked surprised. " I haven't even been able to start figuring out how to stabilize it yet! Wow, you're amazing Saphir!"

Saphir beamed with pride, apparently forgetting his last statement.

"You can beat me in fonic Artes Jade, but I'll outsmart you any day if it involves fontech!" Saphir grinned.

"Thanks a lot Saphir. I was getting a bit worried, I just couldn't figure out how to control it. I've started looking into how to reverse it, but I'm glad I don't have to anymore!"

"No problem Jade! That's what friends are for!" Saphir beamed. Jade spent a few moment adjusting the glasses, and he put them on. Blinking a few times, he turned to look at Saphir.

"So, how do I look?" Jade asked his friend. Saphir considered it for a moment.

"Eh, you look like a nerd Jade."

"Saphir!"

"Ouch! Well, you do..."

* * *

AN: I had to put that last part in. Dist calling Jade a nerd is priceless. And can you just imagine Jade telling Dist, "Wow, you're amazing Saphir!" In a non-sarcastic voice? Impossible in the grown-up Jade eh? XD

Please tell me if you see some stupid typos and I'll fix it right away!


End file.
